Improved puddling-furnace



the furnace on the line 2 2, Fig. 1.

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A.'WHIPPLE, OF WEST PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELFAND JACOB PAINTER.

IMPROVED 'PUDDLlNG-FURNACE.

Specification forming part ofLetters Patent No. 56,333, dated July 10, 1866.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. WHIPPLE,

of -West Pittsburg, inthe county of Allegheny following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a horizontal section through a puddling-furnace on the line may of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is avertical longitudinal section through Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the furnace on the line A B in Fig. 2.

In the several figures like'letters of reference denote similar parts.

The drawings represent onlythe paddling chamber or hearth of a puddling or boiling furnace and the fire-chamber, the arch and stack being omitted as not necessary tothe understanding of my improvement.

The object of my invention is'to prevent the rapid burning out of the bottom and chills or boshes of puddling or boiling furnaces, and the bottom plate or hearth of heatin'gfurnaces used in the manufactureof iron, and also, in heating furnaces, to prevent the enormous waste of scrap-iron caused by the use of a sand bottom.

In puddling or boiling furnaces as ordinarily constructed the bottom or hearth is usually made of plates of cast-iron supported on suitable masonry. Around the hearth or bottom are placed low hollow castings, called chills or boshes, which form the sides of the puddling-hearth, and these are surrounded by brick-work carried to a suitable height and arched over the top. The fire-chamber or furnace is placed at one end of the puddlingchamber, and the flue or chimney at the other end, so that the fire passes into the puddlingchamber and over the hearth.

The cast-iron bottom and boshes would be soon burned out by the intense heat required for the process of puddling or boiling, if not protected by some covering which can be renewed from time to time as the boshes, &c., become bare. This is done by means ofa fixlng made of-cinder or scale and scrap-iron,

which is fused in the furnace and daubed against those parts of the furnace which are most liable to burn out. This fixing requires the use of a large quantity of scrap-iron and cinder, and is not only very expensive, but involves a serious loss of time in preparing the fixing, the furnace standing idle meanwhile; and even with these precautions a set of bot tom plates'will not, under ordinary circumstances, last more than a year.

In order to increase the durability of the bottom plates and boshes of the furnace, I pro pose to make a chamber under the hearth or bottom plates, through which water is caused topass in such a manner that it will be converted into steam, and the steam, filling the chamber or space under the furnace-bottom and travers'in g the interior of the hollow boshes,will abstract so much of their heat as to greatly diminish their liability to burn out.

As water is a bad conductor of heat, it cannot be readily raised to a sufficiently high temperature for the free generation of steam unless the heat be applied underneath the water, because the heated water will remain on the surface; and if the heat were applied above 'thesurface of the water it'would be only very slowly communicated to the particles of water below the surface. In order, therefore, to secure a free and rapid generation of steam un der the puddling-chamber, from which the heat to vaporize the water is to be obtained, I con struct the bottom of the water-space in such a manner that a portion only of its surface will be covered with water; the other parts, being uncovered, will become heated readily, and thus heat the whole bottom sufficiently to raise steam.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use myimprovement, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I construct a puddling-furnace for its practical application.

In the drawings, a a are the cast-iron bottom plates of the furnace, which are supported by means of a central bar, b, and supports 0 0 in the usual manner. dd are the boshes which form the sides of the puddling or boiling chamber, and which are hollow, as shown in Fig. 2. e is a part of the side wall of the furnace. is the fire-chamber, placed at one end of the puddling-hearth.

tend under the whole bottom of the puddlingchamber and under the boshes dd, so that the steam-space communicates freely with the in terior of the boshes. These corrugated plates h h incline slightly downward from each end of thepuddling-chamber toward the central bar, b, where they do not quite come together, a space being left in which the lower angle of the central bar, I), rests, so that while the bar I) rests upon the ends of the plates h h it does not make a close joint, the corrugations or gutters of the plates it h forming so many spouts, through which any unvaporized water may run out of the space 9, instead of accumulating therein and filling up the space, as it otherwise might do.

\Vateris supplied to the interior of the steam or water space 9 by means of pipes 7c 70, which enter'the side of the furnace and traverse the boshes horizontally. These pipes are perforated along at intervals within the boshes with small holes t, through which the water is distributed and runs in small streams from the upper end of the corrugated plates h it down the gutters formed by the corrugations, and thence what is not vaporized escapes at the points a n, at the lowest point in the corrugated plates. Apertures may be left in the sides of the boshes for the escape of steam, which will also find its way out at the openings n n. The steam not being generated under pressure, will not be much above 212 Fahrenheit, and, rising up against the bottom plates, a a, and traversing the boshes d d, will take up a large amount of heat from them, thus constantly tending to cool them.

If the puddling or boiling furnaces be situate near to a steam-engine, the escape-steam may be conducted by the pipes 70 70 into the steam-space 9 instead of water; but in many cases this arrangement would not be convenient, and the water is more easily managed.

The use of this improvement will effect a very great saving of material by reducing the quantity of cinder and scrap otherwise neces-' sarily employed in fixing the interior of puddling and boiling furnaces.

By an obvious modification of construction my improvement is applicable to any description of puddling, boiling, or heating furnace. It is peculiarly advantageous in its application to furnaces for heating blooms and piles of iron preparatory to rolling, (called heating-furnaces,) in which, as now ordinarily constructed, a bottom of cinder cannot be used, because it would not sufficiently protect the cast-iron bottom plates. A covering of sand is therefore placed on the bottom plate, which results in the loss of the cinder or scale from the iron, which mixes with the sand, and is thus rendered worthless. If the sand could be dispensed with the scale or cinder (which. is oxide of iron) could be saved, which is a very important item.

By applying my improvement to a heatingfurnace and making a steam-space under the bottom plate it can be kept cool enough to use a cinder bottom or covering to the plate.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- Constructing puddling, boiling, and heating furnaces with a chamber or space under the bottom plates or hearth, so constructed and arranged, substantially as hereinbefore described, as that steam may be generated or introduced therein and come in contact with the under side of the bottom plates and interior surface of the boshes or chills, so as to withdraw from them a portion of their heat, and thus aid in protecting them from the destructive action of the heat of the furnace.

In testimony whereof I, the said GEORGE A. WHIPPLE, have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE A. WHIPPLE.

Witnesses ALLAN G. BAKEWELL, W. D. LEWIS. 

